Bam Adebayo believes his historic 83-point performance against the Washington Wizards could have turned into an even bigger scoring night.
“I had 83 on a bad shooting night,” Adebayo said. “I would’ve passed Wilt. People were like, ‘You shot 43 free throws,’ if you actually watch the game and not the last minute and a half… I got fouled the whole game.”
Adebayo scored 83 points in Miami’s 150-129 victory over Washington on March 10, 2026. He played 41 minutes and 54 seconds, finishing with 20 field goals on 43 attempts, including 7-of-22 from three-point range.
The biggest component of his scoring total came at the free-throw line, where Adebayo went 36-of-43. He also added nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks while finishing with a game score of 60.5.
Despite shooting just 46.5% from the field and 31.8% from three, Adebayo produced the second-highest scoring performance in NBA history, according to the record referenced in his comments. His 83 points also came during a season in which he averaged 20.1 points and 10.0 rebounds over 73 games.
The performance was also a major offensive outlier compared with Adebayo’s regular-season production. His 83 points were more than four times his 20.1-point scoring average, while his 20 made field goals were more than triple his typical 6.9 field goals per game.
Adebayo attempted 65 total shots from the field and free-throw line against Washington, including 43 field-goal attempts and 43 free throws. His seven made three-pointers were also well above his season average of 1.7 per game.
The 28-year-old center enters the 2026-27 season alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo after Miami acquired the two-time MVP from Milwaukee during the offseason. The Heat also added Klay Thompson and Tim Hardaway Jr. to strengthen their perimeter shooting following the departures of Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Norman Powell.
Adebayo averaged 20.1 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists last season while earning All-Defensive Second Team honors and finishing 11th in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
